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Last remaining Xbox founder leaves Microsoft

Otto Berkes, the last remaining member of the team that envisioned a Microsoft video game console, has left the company today.

It's the end of an era at Microsoft, according to a report out of the Seattle Times. The last of the Xbox console's founding fathers has tendered his resignation this morning.

Otto Berkes, described as a "soft-spoken Hungarian programmer", was one in a group of four core Microsoft employees with a vision for the computer software giant to create a video game console to compete with Sony's PlayStation 2.

In the article, Ed Fries--former head of Microsoft's games publishing business--recalls Berkes being "one of the crazy guys" that came into his office with the idea for Microsoft to develop a console based on the Windows DirectX technology--dubbed the "Direct X box."

"They talked me into joining up with them and helping to make it happen," Fries said. "It wouldn't have happened without him." Fries and the other founding members of the Direct X box project have since left Microsoft for other opportunities. Berkes, the lone holdout, leaves today.

Though he had been of projects that have both been embraced and killed, Berkes leaves on a good note. "No regrets, but it's time to move on for me," he told the Seattle Times. "I'm very proud of what I was able to accomplish here."

For more on the history of Otto's time at Microsoft, check out the Seattle Times report.